Oscars 2014

[Valmy]

Calm down spaz.

Not upset just bored.  Stupid midterms.

[Ed Anger]

http://youtu.be/7LyqBb6HBSk (NSFW)

[KRonn]

I'm not a big fan of Ellen but I liked her as MC. She's funny and upbeat, and accustomed to performing in front of live crowds. Unlike when they had Franco and Hathaway as MC's for one of the events a couple years ago, maybe it was the Oscars. Not just any actor/actress is up to the job just because they're an actor, though some can do it.

[Sheilbh]

I entirely endorse Hadley Freeman's message here:
http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/mar/03/creative-oscars-tuxedo-douchebags-mens-fashion-black-tie

Can you get creative with your Oscars tuxedo without looking like a douchebag?
Men's fashion can be pretty boring. But unless you're Tinie Tempah, it's best to stick to classic black tie
Hadley Freeman
Follow @HadleyFreemanFollow @guardian
The Guardian, Monday 3 March 2014 15.05 GMT

Is it ever possible for men to get "creative" with black tie and not look like douchebags?

Guy, via Twitter

I like how you put "creative" in hesitant quote marks, Guy, because that strongly suggests that you know the answer to this question already and that answer is "no". Now, I wouldn't go so far as to call them "douchebags", but attempts to experiment with the tux are either, at best, a bit silly, or, at worst, downright teeth-grating. Basically, any time a man tries to break out of the black-and-white prison, he ends up with what we in the fashion business call "a strong look", which is a euphemism for either "a terrible look" or "basically a costume that you're going to have to justify wearing all evening". I'll get to why so many men do, nonetheless, attempt this breakout, but first I shall describe they how they attempt it at all.

Probably the most popular "creative" black tie take is to wear a velvet tux. Hipsterish types such as James Franco are fond of this because they think it makes them look a bit retro, when it actually just makes them look as if they're dressing up as Dean Martin for Halloween. British celebrities, including Eddie Redmayne and Tinie Tempah, tend to carry off the velvet tux a little better, partly because they usually go for a more classic as opposed to a skinny cut (American men in velvet tuxes think "ratpack", British men in velvet tuxes think "Oscar Wilde"), but mainly because Tempah would look good in a wooden barrel with braces, so he is not a particularly useful guide here.

The velvet tux was a 70s classic but it wasn't until the 80s that men decided to get properly jazzy with the tux. Ruffled shirts, single button jackets, cummerbunds: they all jazzhands-ed around the tux with abandon. Think of Tom Hanks turning up to his office party in a glittery all-white tux in Big and you'll get a vague idea of the decade, with only a dash of exaggeration.

Attempts at creativity flourished in the 90s and were somehow, briefly, respected. Think back on Griffin Mill (played by Tim Robbins), the dynamic studio exec in Robert Altman's The Player, who goes to industry events in the ol' reverse tux (black shirt, white jacket), which was seen then as a sign of daring creativity, as opposed to how it looks now, which is like something Alan Hansen might wear to the Match of the Day Christmas party. It was also in the 90s that men started adding details to their tuxes, details such as – dear Lord, no, think of the children! – paisley cummerbunds. Still, we shouldn't expect too much of that decade seeing as that was the era some women went momentarily insane and took to wearing dresses over their trousers.

And what, pray tell, have all these attempts at creativity taught us, dear readers? They've taught us that, in the case of the tux, and only in the case of the tux, creativity sucks. It never works. The beauty of the tux is its simplicity and as soon as you start jazz-handsing around with it, everything just goes to pot. Personally, I don't even like it when men try to get all fancy and wear a white bow tie instead of a black one because a black tie against a white shirt is such a lovely combination that it seems downright wasteful to throw away the opportunity to sport it.

The tuxedo is a design classic and, despite what Paul Smith believes (and has, admittedly, made a fortune by designing), I do not believe that the whole idea of a "classic with a twist" works in menswear. That is because a classic is a classic for a reason and in men's design these classics are calibrated with special precision. Think of the trench coat, for example, another classic in menswear. A traditional trench coat on a man: excellent. A trench coat made out of leather on Kanye West: an abomination.

Look, chaps, I get why you do this, I honestly do. Menswear is, in the main, sort of boring. There are only so many things most men do with the ol' trousers-and-top combination, and this is why they siphon off their frustrated fashion desires into tedious things like expensive watches and embarrassing trainers, and I do not advocate this either.

So what, you cry, is the solution? Am I condemning men to a miserable life of stymied fashion desires? Am I the Catholic church, sternly telling men to deny their natural impulses? No, I am not. What I'm saying is, men need to learn to have more fun with their day-to-day fashion, to stop fearing that pink will make onlookers doubt their masculinity, to stop believing that jeans are the only acceptable form of trousers and to cease thinking that anything more fancy than a T-shirt will make them look like David Cameron. This is a healthy way of sating their creative needs and will mean they won't then stoop to ridiculous and possibly illegal resorts, such as buying watches that work 10km under water (so useful!) and jazzing up the classics.

So that's my prescription, menfolk: have more fun in your day-to-day outfits and leave the classics be. Unless you're Tinie Tempah. You, sir, can do whatever you damn well like.

[CountDeMoney]

Personally, I don't even like it when men try to get all fancy and wear a white bow tie instead of a black one because a black tie against a white shirt is such a lovely combination that it seems downright wasteful to throw away the opportunity to sport it.

Amen, sister.

[Grey Fox]

I don't know what half the words in Seibhy's article means.

Men drive!

[Admiral Yi]

Has there been any discussion of actual movies in this thread?

[garbon]

Benedict Cumberbatch has reptilian eyes, and blinks them accordingly.  Creepy.

I really don't get why he is considered attractive.

[CountDeMoney]

Benedict Cumberbatch has reptilian eyes, and blinks them accordingly.  Creepy.

I really don't get why he is considered attractive.

He's as if Christian Bale and a monitor lizard had a love child.

[merithyn]

Benedict Cumberbatch has reptilian eyes, and blinks them accordingly.  Creepy.

I really don't get why he is considered attractive.

I don't find him attractive, per se, but his characters are always rather... sexy.

[merithyn]

Angelina Jolie is barely an actress.

I agree with g on this one.

[garbon]

Angelina Jolie is barely an actress.

I agree with g on this one.

There are some lines that just shouldn't be crossed.

[garbon]

Benedict Cumberbatch has reptilian eyes, and blinks them accordingly.  Creepy.

I really don't get why he is considered attractive.

I don't find him attractive, per se, but his characters are always rather... sexy.

I've never watched anything with him in it as his visage was off putting.

[CountDeMoney]

Has there been any discussion of actual movies in this thread?

Here ya go!

Rush Limbaugh: '12 Years A Slave' only won an Oscar because slave is a 'magic word'

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Monday said that the reason that the film "12 Years A Slave" won best picture was because "it had the magic word in the title: slave."

On his Monday radio show following Sunday night's 86th Academy Awards, Limbaugh said that the entire night had been "entirely" political.

"It always is, everything to the left is political," the host opined. "There was no demonstrable political preaching from anybody."

He noted that Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres had joked that "you're all racists" if "12 Years A Slave" did not win best picture.

"All good comedy must be rooted in truth," Limbaugh quipped. "There's no way that movie was not going to win! If it was the only thing that movie won, it was going to win best picture. There was no way. It didn't matter if it was good or bad — I haven't seen it — it was going to win."

"It had the magic word in the title: slave."

[The Brain]

The magic word isn't slave.